What Didn't Happen
by Laura and Amber
Summary: This is for a contest being held by Humanusscriptor. Vanessa buys Ferb a present to cheer him up, albeit not how she was expecting. Rated T for teen-aged romance. One-shot. Read and Review please! fanfiction. net /s/ 9434135 /4/ Best-PnF-Author-Awards


_Laura: This is for Humanusscriptor's contest. A one-shot of Ferbnessa. Vanessa buys Ferb a gift and they end up in Paris. Not exactly a, "What should've happened in SBTY" but more of a "what didn't happen". Warning: Teens kissing._

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It was a cool, Fall day in Danville. Sunny skies, a cool and crisp breeze, the trees turning beautiful shades of reds and yellows. 22 year-old Vanessa Doofenshmirtz was walking home with 18 year-old Ferb Fletcher and a smile on her face. Life was pretty good for her. As Ferb was walking her home, they were busy talking, as usual. Sharing funny moments in their life and laughing back on the memories.

"Wow, really?", Vanessa giggled. "That's so cute."

"Yeah, Phineas was really happy.", Ferb chuckled. "It was a great kilt, too. One of the best Christmases ever."

"Well that's good to know.", Vanessa smiled.

"Y'know, I haven't been to Scotland since before my mother died.", Ferb's smile faded a bit. "I... I really miss the place.. Not to mention my mum's side of the family..."

Vanessa's smile also disappeared and for a moment, they walked on in silence.

"...it's nearing that time of the year again..isn't it?", she asked.

Ferb gave a nod. She knew it as well as he did. Every year, just as Autumn sinks in, Ferb would long for the Scottish half of his family tree. The half that was left behind when his dad planned to marry Linda and move him and Ferb to America. Memories, happy and painful alike, would wash over his mind and leave him, more or less, mourning over his mother's death. It's fallen into the routine of Ferb normally residing from company and family more and more and eating his favorite dish, haggis, that his father would make.

"...I wish there was something I could do to help cheer you up.", Vanessa half-sighed.

"It's okay Vanessa. Really.", Ferb smiled some, turning to face her. "I just.. I miss Scotland and the best you could do for me, is to just stay as happy as you can."

Vanessa offered a smile, though she was still wishing she could cheer him up. But before she could think up an idea, they reached the DEI, thus ending their date.

"See ya later then, Ferb.", Vanessa smiled.

Ferb smiled and kissed her on the cheek. She walked on up and Ferb pulled out his cell phone.

"Go to home.", he ordered and within a flash of light, Ferb was gone.

Vanessa chuckled as she watched her boyfriend teleport away and headed on up the stairs to the apartment. Granted, she was a grown adult, but she still lived in her dad's house. It was more of a feeling that he'd need her in his older years, than just not ready to live on her own.

"Hey, Dad.", she greeted as she walked in.

"Oh hi, Vanessa!", Heinz said cheerfully as he wiped away a few more soot spots from his recent fighting. "How was the date?"

"Fine, as usual.", Vanessa simply said before coming over and kissing her dad on a cleaner cheek. "Is Perry still hanging around?"

"Nah. Perry the Platypus already left.", Heinz shrugged.

"Oh well.", she walked over and sat down to the computer to look over her emails.

There was one email still in her inbox, one her mother sent and Vanessa hadn't replied to. As of recently, Charlene was hoping to provide her daughter with a bit of a broader education, since Vanessa refused to go to college, and buy her and a friend a plane ticket to Europe. Leave it to Vanessa's mother to always be able to afford that sort of luxury. The only problem was that Vanessa really didn't have a place in mind she would want to be at. All her friends were in Danville, she already traveled around the world with Ferb and her Dad when she was 16, and everyone speaks a different language in anything interesting like France or Italy.

Vanessa circled the email with her courser, still trying to think of what to say or how to gently put her mother's offer down. Finally, an idea struck her and she clicked on the reply button.  
It was a couple of days later that Ferb met up with Vanessa again at her apartment with a backpack over his shoulder.

"Oh hey, Ferb!", Vanessa smiled as she greeted him at the door.

They gave a quick kiss and Vanessa looked by Ferb's feet.

"Ferb, where are your bags?"

"I like to maximize space.", the green-haired teen shrugged. "Why did you ask me to pack? Are we going camping?"

"Much better.", Vanessa smiled up at him. "I'll be right back with my stuff and then we have to get to the airport."

She might as well have said, "and then we have to jump off a cliff" cause Ferb was left even more dumbfounded than before as she dashed inside the apartment. When she came back out with her couple of suit cases, the two left for Ferb's car and headed to the airport.

"You sure your car will be alright if we leave it here?", Vanessa asked as they climbed out into the parking lot.

"Course. Once we leave a 50-ft radius, it'll automatically drive itself back home and park in mine and Phineas' garage.", Ferb explained.

"You never cease to amaze me Ferb.", Vanessa chuckled. "You think you can come up with something to help my dad stop losing the remote?"

"That's easy, get a bigger remote.", he joked, making her laugh.

Surely as ever, the two got onto the plane on time and manage to settle into the seats before having to take off.

There was just one problem...

"Passengers, we would like to please advise you to buckle your seat belts as we are taking off for Paris, France.", the announcer said.

"Paris?", Vanessa and Ferb said in surprise, though Ferb was more pleased than Vanessa.

Vanessa's boyfriend turned to her and asked, "This is your surprise? You know, you didn't really need to try to take me to Paris just to cheer me up."

"Oh no no no no! No, this can't be true!", Vanessa quietly panicked before turning to a passing by stewardess. "Excuse me? Ma'am? Did I hear right? Is this to PARIS, FRANCE?"

"Oui, madame.", the stewardess replied. "Paris, France."

Vanessa groaned and leaned back into her chair.

"Vanessa, what's wrong?", Ferb asked, slightly concerned.

"Oh... Ferb, I am SO sorry...", Vanessa sighed. "See, Mom was wanting me to study abroad or..whatever, and she even offered that I could bring a friend. I asked her for the money for two tickets and went online to go buy the tickets. I was wanting to take you to Scotland, to help cheer you up, but I must've accidentally clicked on France by mistake! I- Oh, good gosh, I.. I've become my dad...", she placed her face in her hand and shook her head.

"Does that make me Perry?", Ferb hoped to joke and make her smile.

She smiled, though the real gist of the joke wasn't really appealing at the time. Her smile disappeared and she sighed again.

"Ferb, I'm so, so sorry.. I was really looking forward to seeing your face when you heard we were going to Scotland..."

Ferb kept a calm face the time she took to explain this, but when she was done, he couldn't help but just smile anyway.

"Vanessa, it's perfectly alright.", he said calmly. "I don't mind going to France with you. I'm sure we'd still have a great time."

"But.. You know.. With it being that time again..", Vanessa sighed.

Ferb simply cupped her chin and lifted her eyes to meet his as he gently smiled.

"It's perfectly fine.", he said quietly. "As long as I'm with you. I'm happy."

Vanessa smiled a bit and Ferb kissed her. They pulled back and settled into the seats again. After a moment, Ferb surprised her by starting up the next bit of conversation.

"Besides..", he began. "Phineas was already planning on building a jet to get us to Scotland to visit family next weekend. Wouldn't want to ruin his fun, now would we?"

Vanessa, though surprised by this, couldn't help but laugh as Ferb chuckled.

"Hm. Two young adults, ALONE in the City of LOVE. Oh what sorts of danger THAT could bring.", she joked.

"Well, I don't really think that they allow guns on the plane, so we should be out of trouble.", Ferb chuckled, making her giggle a bit more.

Traveling around the world in less than two days as a kid must've left some sort of knack on Ferb for not wasting too much time in getting to France. They got on the plane by morning and were leaving the airport by late afternoon. They checked into a hotel. A room with two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small living room/kitchen. Cozy. After leaving luggage behind, they agreed to look about and take in the sights.

It was almost like being back in Danville. So many sights to see, so many new things to try. Vanessa couldn't decide where to begin.

"Maybe we should rent a scooter or something.", she pondered.

Somehow, what she said, made Ferb burst into laughter. She turned around to look curiously ta him.

"Well what's so funny about that?", she asked.

"No, I'm sorry. It's just that...", Ferb paused for a moment, almost wondering if he should really say anything. "...are you actually going to RENT it this time or are you going to 'rent it' like last time?"

It took Vanessa a moment to remember but then she understood. The last time they were in Paris when she was 16 and he only 12, she told Phineas she had "rented" a scooter when, as she confided secretly to Ferb later, it was just sitting on the side of the street with the keys in the ignition. So she simply helped herself. She laughed too and shook her head.

"No, I'm really meaning to RENT a scooter.", she chuckled.

They went to rent a scooter and enjoyed the sight-seeing. But as they were, Ferb couldn't help but remember more of the last time they were in Paris. Vanessa agreed to be his girlfriend when he was 16, and in the two years of being a couple, he still didn't tell her his deep crush on her when he was 12, let alone the rose he was hoping to give her when they were in Paris. It was more than just wanting to make a move on a girl with a flower, he was really hoping to confess love then and that she would accept him. Yes, she's his girl now, but it still meant something more to him if he ever did give her that rose. That little symbol of his affection. It actually surprised him quite a bit when she suggested that they went to the Eiffel Tower like they did, all those years back.

They climbed to the top and looked out onto the setting sun. The skies tinted with reds and oranges, the clouds floating along the atmosphere in soft, cotton candy pink color.

"It's so beautiful up here.", Vanessa breathed as she looked up into the large canvas-like sky.

Ferb smiled and walked with her to one of the side railings.

"You really like high-places don't you?", he asked.

Vanessa smiled and gave a nod.

"Ever since I was little. It's just.. There's something peaceful about being up so high.", she explained as a breeze blew by.

"Perhaps because it seems the closer to heaven you are, the less your troubles seem to bother you.", Ferb pondered.

"That's a good answer.", Vanessa nodded in agreement. "It's just... It's so nice being here. Especially with you."

She smiled at Ferb and he smiled back. When Vanessa turned her head to look back out at the city, he looked about and his eyes soon landed on the same small flower shop that he was at last time. With Vanessa here and the unlikely chance that her dad, Perry, and Perry's boss would suddenly come in and swoop her away, like how he saw last time though decided to keep quiet about it, Ferb wondered if he could give her a rose like he planned on doing last time.

He started to move to the stand, but Vanessa was quick to catch his action.

"Ferb, where are you going?", she asked.

Ferb internally sighed. He wanted to surprise her, but he had to keep her distracted in order to do so.

"I was just looking around.", he said before turning back and looking down at the ground over the railing.

"You alright?", she asked, thinking that he looked upset about something.

"I'm fine. I um...", his eyebrows furrowed together and he squinted at the ground far below them. "Isn't that Dan Povenmire, down there?"

"Dan Povenmire?", Vanessa asked before leaning over the railing to look as well. "Where?"

"Right there."

"Where?"

"THERE.", Ferb tried to point it out to her, though he was really just pointing at nothing.

"Ferb, I'm not seeing anything!", Vanessa started to get frustrated.

"Keep looking and tell me when you see him.", Ferb said, finally finding opportunity to walk away.

"I'm looking..", she huffed.

He slipped by and walked over to the flower stand and glanced back to make sure no hover cars were whisking his girlfriend away before bought a small, red, rose that was still starting to bloom. Call it a cliche, but Ferb thought of it more as a nice way to show his own affection from his childhood. Red like passion, small like he was, not even grown to create a real sharp end to its thorns. He carefully fingered the top of the rose's petals, hoping that Vanessa would like it.

As Ferb walked back with the rose in hand, a weird thought struck him. What to say? "Here's a rose that I was meaning to give you when I was twelve, even though this isn't the exact same rose, and I was wanting to give it to you to show that I was madly in love with you when I was only a kid"? Talk about awkward. And it's not that Ferb was wanting to get this on the spot or anything, he wanted her to know the reason behind this.

'Sometimes I wish I was Phineas.', Ferb sighed to himself, knowing of how Phineas smoothly handled romance.

Ferb simply decided to put the rose away in his jacket until he could find a way to give it later.

"I'm sorry Ferb, but I just can not see Danny from Love Handel.", Vanessa said as he stepped back into place beside her.

"Well I guess it was someone else. They all do look like ants from up here.", Ferb shrugged.

"That's true."

As they hung out and enjoyed twilight, it did start getting late and the two agreed to dinner. Ferb still didn't find a way to present his flower.

They found a small restaurant, Les Aliments, and were seated at a table.

"See? This isn't so bad.", Ferb reassured after they made their orders.

"Yeah. But it's still not Scotland.", Vanessa shrugged.

"I'm having a perfectly good time.", Ferb smiled. "I'm even not missing Scotland so bad anymore. I think you're really helping me with this."

Vanessa smiled, more encouraged by his words, and soon dinner was sat down before them.

Part of the curse of being an introvert is the lack of chit chat that an introvert can create to stimulate conversation, even with a beloved. It's a universal phenomenon when two introverts come to know each other. Fortunately for his sake, Vanessa managed to find something to talk about.

"Why is a box of crayons at a restaurant?", she asked all of a sudden.

Ferb looked up at her, perplexed. She picked up the box from her side of the center piece.

"I was wondering why these were here.", she said.

"Oh. Um.. I think it has something to do with those new cartoonists everyone keeps talking about.", Ferb shrugged "One of them started to draw out the cartoon character on a napkin at a resturaunt and there's another time when someone else drew a porcupine cartoon on butchering paper and they went on to be famous. So I think some places set out drawing paper for the table cloth and a box of crayons for anyone else to have the chance of being a famous cartoonist."

"Oh. That's kinda cool.", Vanessa smiled and sat the crayons back on the table.

"You like cartoons?", Ferb asked.

"Sometimes.", Vanessa shrugs. "About as much as any other girl."

Ferb gave a small nod and shrug in agreement. Cartoons were fun, but they weren't his life but he was looking for an opportunity to give her this rose. Maybe pictures would help him.

"Do you like pictures?", he asked.

Vanessa shrugged.

"I'm not one to go to an art gallery, but, yeah, pictures can be pretty.", she smiled.

"I could draw something for you if you'd want.", he offered.

"Mm.. Alright.", she smiled and he took the crayons. "How about a..."

'Please say rose. Please say rose. Please say rose.', he chanted internally. 'Or at least US so I could draw me giving her the rose...'

"How about Perry? Or... Perry and a bilby.", she shrugged.

Ferb wanted to groan but he kept to his silence and sketched out a quick picture of his platypus and a rabbit-eared bandicoot. By the time he was done, dinner was done and Vanessa couldn't help but smile at the picture. Perry, with his fedora on and on his hind feet, was swooning over a girl bilby as she walking by, pretending to ignore him. "To Vanessa" with a heart was written at the bottom.

"That's really cute. You're good at drawing Perry.", she chuckled.

"Thank you.", Ferb smiled. "I've certainly been to your house enough times, I would hope to have caught on how he looked as an agent."

They made it back to the hotel by evening. A bit worn out from the traveling, and a little heavy hearted for not having still given her the flower, Ferb walked back into the hotel room with Vanessa, hand in hand. The rose was safely tucked away in his jacket, but his legs, at the moment, were too tired to stand any longer. They flopped down onto the couch and smiled at each other.

"Today was a great day.", Vanessa smiled softly.

Ferb smiled and gave a nod before kissing her. Vanessa kissed back, slowly wrapping her arms around his neck. Maybe it was the City of Love. Maybe it was just because they were tired. Or because of how passionate their love was to each other. But Vanessa didn't want to let go and neither did Ferb as he wrapped an arm around her waist and held her close, slowly, gently, moving his lips over hers as the cool night air blew in from opened windows, settling into their skin as contrast to the heat in their cheeks. Their hearts slowing in pace as they continued to kiss. Ferb's lips finally left hers, but only to move slowly to her cheek and then down her neck, soft pecks along the way. Vanessa couldn't help but sigh a bit at this feeling as Ferb continued to love on her. She gently kissed the top of his ear as he kissed her shoulder. Her nails instinctively dug into the soft cloth of his dark purple jacket. Ferb's kisses trailed back from her shoulder to her neck, to her cheek, to her lips once more. A tentative tongue slipped into his mouth and they kissed for a moment longer before he finally pulled back and smiled at her with heavy lidded eyes as she mirrored his expression. He reached into his jacket and pulled out the rose.

"I told you it wouldn't be so bad.", he said as he produced the small red flower.

Vanessa smiled more and kissed him on the cheek.

"I love you, Ferb.", she said, placing a hand over his that held the rose.

"I love you too."

It's not how it happened, way back when, but Ferb was more than happy that it was happening now.

* * *

_Laura: Alright, this is really last minute but that's really cause I didn't know about the silly chapter thing until just two nights ago. XP Amber and I quickly talked it out as we went to bed one night and I finally got it written up today. Hope we're not too late. Oh, and also, "Les Aliments" is "The Foods" in French._


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